Mischief at Malfoy Manor
by Lexen
Summary: What Lucius learned from the mud.


**AN:**** I don't own Harry Potter or anything related to it, and I am making no money off this story. It was written for Slytherin Head for the Seasonless Secret Santa Challenge on HPFC and for Ashleigh's Monthly Competition (First OTP). This fluffy Lucius/Narcissa story is in the same universe as my "Angels of Winter" and takes place about two months after the Final Battle. It assumes that the Malfoys were fully pardoned and are now back at Malfoy Manor. I've added a few details to canon regarding Lucius's father and about the house elves. There are several implied lemons, but they are not graphic, as well as a few instances of swear words. **

It had been far too long since I had chased my wife for the sheer joy of it. The last time we had run together had been in the fear and heartache of the final battle as we searched desperately for our son in the ruins of Hogwarts. So when Narcissa lured me out to the ground floor patio and then took off running, I hadn't hesitated before running after her. It was uncharacteristic of me of course, but since the war, I'd found myself doing many things that that I would have disdained before. I couldn't bring myself to care.

We covered the manor grounds with surprising speed, and I was surprised once again to find just how fleet-footed my wife was, even encumbered by the skirts of her sapphire blue robes. She was laughing as she ran, occasionally throwing a glance over her shoulder at me, and I found that I couldn't help but laugh right back at her. I had purposely shortened my stride so I wouldn't overtake her too quickly. Frankly, I was enjoying myself too much to want it to end.

We were approaching the forested area of the grounds, and as it had rained the previous night, the ground was muddy and slick beneath our feet. It wasn't the most pleasant feeling, and I knew we would be mud-splattered at the least by the time this bit of happy madness had run its course. Narcissa, apparently, did not care for she was all but skipping along ahead of me, and I couldn't help but smile as I remembered the two of us when we were much younger, Hogwarts students getting into trouble (but never getting caught).

We were approaching a small clearing in the woods when suddenly my wife disappeared. I skidded to a halt, looking around for a telltale glimmer of magic since I suspected she had concealed herself with a spell. A giggle drew my startled eyes upward. There, with her robes rucked up around hips as she straddled a branch of the tree, sat Narcissa, looking for all the world like a very naughty child looking for a partner in crime.

I'll admit that I did not laugh; I actually giggled, a sound that I had forgotten I could make and that would have embarrassed me if anyone but Narcissa had been there to hear it. My only excuse was that she just looked so utterly adorable, and it had been a very long time since I had last applied that term to my wife. Actually, the last time had been before we were married when she had found her way up a similar tree on her family's estate, and I had followed her up. I'd gotten a blow job and a broken leg for my trouble, in that order, when we forgot the sticking charms. Our parents had been furious of course, but when their attempts to pry Narcissa from my side as I recovered had failed, they had decided an "arranged marriage" might be an acceptable way to sidestep a scandal.

Ours was a rarity, an arranged marriage that actually was a love match.

I was pulled out of my memories when a stick landed on my head, followed by another giggle. I glared up at my wife, not quite managing a frown.

"Narcissa, if you think I'm still the idiot I was at seventeen and will climb up there again, you must have drunk too much wine with lunch. You remember what happened the last time! And we are not teenagers anymore!"

She just stuck out her tongue at me and smiled. "So what? We're alive, and that ought to count for something." She shifted her position on the tree branch, exposing more of her bare skin in the process. I sighed in exasperation, swallowed my dignity, and pulled my robes up out of the way of my feet as I reached for the branch.

"You'd better make damn sure that you cast the sticking charms this time!" I grumbled as my body tried to remember exactly how one climbed a tree.

"Of course I did, Lucius. Trust me, I'll make it worth your while," Narcissa practically purred as I finally managed the ascent…and she reached for my robes.

And she most definitely made it worth my while.

We eventually did make it out of the tree though we both found out that climbing down was harder than climbing up. So much harder in fact that I slipped and fell, landing on my back in a mud puddle. On one hand, the mud cushioned my landing. On the other hand, I was now filthy, and Narcissa was having a fine time laughing till her sides hurt as she stood watching me, having managed to just barely land on her feet.

I rather liked her outraged scream when I pulled her down into my arms and rolled her into the mud beside me. Now, it was my turn to laugh. She smacked me playfully with a muddy hand before dissolving into giggles as we examined ourselves. We were a sight, all the more unusual because of who we were. Draco, Astoria, and the house elves were the only beings in the wizarding world that would be unlikely to have heart attacks upon seeing the patriarch and matriarch of the Malfoy family playing in the mud like children.

"I came across Draco and Astoria involved in this very same absurdity last week. I let them be. Merlin knows they needed it as much as we do." I dragged my hand idly through the mud, tracing random circles as I smiled at the memory of my son and his fiancée's antics.

"Narcissa, do you remember when Draco was little, and he discovered mud for the first time? He was four years old and sitting there looking up at us like he expected to be crucioed." I sighed, suddenly recalling my father's face and subsequent punishment the one time that he had found me playing in the mud when I was four years old. "My own father crucioed me for it."

Narcissa's hand squeezed mine gently even as she smiled earnestly at me. "But you didn't punish Draco. And we both remember what happened next."

I chuckled then sighed again. "We joined in and had a mud fight with Draco. Merlin, how much I wished that Abraxas had been watching us from beyond the Veil! I would have loved to shove it all in his face, the three of us sitting there throwing mud at each other and being happy, the kind of happy family that he never had by his own choice."

A handful of mud suddenly hit me right in the face. "Cissy!" I sputtered around the mud in my mouth. "What was that for?"

She smirked. "You're starting to get maudlin, and that's no fun! Besides, I think you look cute with brown hair."

I narrowed my eyes. "That's it!" I hissed. "You're going to get it now!"

Then the mud started to fly as we gleefully abandoned any attempt at restraint. When we got tired of throwing it, we pounced on each other, rolling over and over until we were both covered head to toe in mud and thoroughly unrecognizable to all but our family and the house elves.

I laughed till tears streamed down my cheeks and mixed with the mud, and my sides ached so much I wondered if I'd need a pain potion. On my back on the ground, I grinned at Narcissa who was in a similar state. But my grin turned to a gasp as my wife straddled me and began to make quick work of our filthy clothes.

"Cissy, what…" she just smirked at me as she bared us both to the late afternoon sun.

"You got yours earlier, darling. It's my turn now."

I swallowed hard as my body responded. To my surprise, the mud on our skin seemed to heighten every sensation, and I groaned into Narcissa's mouth. Then, her body was swallowing mine, and I stopped thinking for a while.

The sun had set by the time we finally separated. Now that we had had our fun, we were both pleasantly tired but in need of some cleaning up before we set foot inside the manor unless we wanted to set the house elves into a tirade. Truthfully, there was a time, mere months before, when we wouldn't have thought twice about making more work for the house elves. But during the horrible time in which Lord Voldemort was a resident in the manor, the house elves had proved their loyalty and dedication to us time and time again. Some of them had died in our defense. It was something that we found we could not ignore. Somewhere in between the tender care given to me by the elves whenever the Dark Lord wasn't looking after I returned from Azkaban and watching an elf die from crucios meant for Narcissa and Draco, the little creatures had gone from servants to family. And for a Malfoy, family always came first.

"Why don't we go for a swim?" Narcissa said softly, pointing out the small lake shimmering in the moonlight near the edge of our property.

"Skinny dipping?" I made a face at the ludicrous muggle term even as I smirked at my wife. "Surely, you jest. It would be terribly uncivilized."

She giggled at my pompous tone, well aware that I was teasing. "We've broken damn near every other one of our taboos today. What's one more?"

"What indeed?" I laughed. "Race you!"

Making enough noise to scatter the peacocks, our race ended in a tie in the deliciously cool water. For a time, we simply played, and then Narcissa and I went to work on getting the mud off our bodies. She sat on a mossy overhang with me treading water below as she patiently worked the caked-in mud out of my blond hair. I was quite vain about my hair, but thankfully, my wife loved it and never tired of playing with it. Then, I returned the favor.

We found our second wind, lazily chasing each other around the small lake, enjoying the sensuality and intimacy of the moment. Finally, tired and having realized that heading for the manor might be a good idea if we didn't intend to sleep under the stars; we climbed out of the water to find a very welcome surprise. Our ruined clothing was gone, replaced by two comfortable, casual dressing gowns. A soft blanket had been laid on the ground beside our cleaned and polished wands, and a bottle of wine, glasses, and an assortment of fruit, bread, and cheese was arranged on our best china beside it.

After two hastily cast drying charms, we were both dressed and enjoying a delicious late night treat.

"So who was it…Draco and Astoria or the house elves?" I asked, holding up my wine glass.

Narcissa smiled. "It is elf wine…and you know how jealously they guard it."

I nodded. "I've been thinking. We should reward them for what they did for us. I know we've all started being nicer to them, but surely there must be something else we can offer them?"

My wife considered that. "Several of them are married. Why don't we let each couple have a baby? They won't have children unless we give them permission, and we'll have grandchildren one day who'll need their own elves."

I nodded. "Excellent idea, Cissy. We'll get them together this weekend and let them know."

Narcissa chuckled. "You realize that they will want to name the babies after us? It's a house elf tradition. And their pregnancies happen much more quickly. In half a year, we could have a little Lucius house elf running around the manor."

I groaned and refrained from comment.


End file.
